Concrete bucket



Sept 1 1936- 4 B. KERSTING 5 CONCRETE BUCKET I Filed Jan; 27, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I NVENTOR & ATTORNEY5 Sept. 15, 1936. B H. KERSTING I 2,054,546

CONCRETE BUCKET Filed Jan. .27, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR uuuatv I 6 WWW as ATTORNEYS Patented Sept. 15,1936

CONCRETE BUCKET Bernard H. Kersting, Ben Avon, Pa., assignor to The Dravo Contracting Company, a corpora-. tion of Pennsylvania Application January 27, 1936, Serial No. 60,906

6 Claims. (Cl. 294-69) The invention relates to concrete buckets of bottom-dump type, and consists in means for manual operation, in the opening and closing of the bucket, that are easy of operation, efficient, durable, and that are so organized in the bucket structure as to be out of the way and for that reason no embarrassment in the use of the bucket and protected against accident.

In the accompanying drawings Fig. I is a view in vertical section of a bucket in which my invention is embodied; Fig. II is a fragmentary view in vertical section; and Fig. III is a view in horizontal section. The planes of section of Figs. I and II are severally indicated in Fig. III by the lines 1-1 and IIII; and the plane of section of Fig. III is indicated at IIIIII, Fig. I. Fig. IV is a view in side elevation of a bucket in which the invention in modified form is embodied; Fig. V is a fragmentary view in vertical and axial section of the bucket of Fig. IV; and Fig. VI is a view of the bucket of Fig. IV in plan from above. The plane of section of Fig. V is in Fig. VI indicated by the line VV.

In Letters Patent of the United States No. 1,902,863, granted on my application March 28, 1933, I have described a concrete bucket of essentially hopper shape, with side walls converging downwardly to a bottom discharge opening, and provided witha gate in the form of a fragment of a cylindrical shell rotatably borne by the hopper and when in hopper-closing position underlying the discharge opening and presenting to the contents of the bucket its concave face. A

framework is provided, adapted to sustain the bucket on a horizontal support with the gate sufficiently elevated to permit of free operation. Means are provided for'manually swinging the gate. It is to a bucket so characterized that my present invention is applicable; and the invention, as I have said, centers in the gate-swinging means.

The walls .I of the hopper-shaped bucket taper downwardly to 'a'discharge opening 2. The hopper is carried in a cylindrical casing 3. The gate 4 is in shape a fragment of a cylindrical shell, and the plates 5 that constitute fragmentary cylinder heads, extending externally upon opposite sides of the bucket (cf. Figs. II and V), are pivoted upon the bucket walls. The pivot pins that carry the gate are supported at their two ends by the bucket wall and by brackets 6 that extend from the bucket walls. The pivoting of the gate to the bucket is, advantageously, upon an axis that is eccentric with respect to cylindrical curvature, and the organization is such that in consequence of the eccentricity, when the gate is swung pendicularly to shaft 1.

on its mounting in clockwise direction from the closed position shown in Fig. I (counter-clockwise, Fig. IV), it recedes from the bucket at every point throughout the extent of the'rim of the discharge opening 2. The mounting'of the bucket in the casing 3 is such that when the bucket stands upon a level surface the discharge open ing is elevated above the plane of support and the gate may be freely swung. The specific embodiment of the invention illustrated in Figs. I-fIlI will first be described. Mounted externally upon the downwardly tapering hopper wall and extending in parallelism with the axis of gate 4 is a rotatable shaft 1. .A block 8 mounted externally upon the hopper wall affords bearing for a shaft 9, that extends per- Shafts'l and 9 are equipped with intermeshing bevel gears, and shaft '9 is additionally equipped with. a crank inthe form of a hand-wheel ID. The plates 5 that constitute the fragmentary heads of the cylindrical gate are shaped throughout a portion of their peripheries to circular curvature, concentric with 'the axis of the mounting of the gate. The plates 5 are in these parts reenforced by arc-shaped plates II with toothed edges. The shaft 1 carries pinions I2 that are in mesh with the toothed peripheries of plates 5. The parts being provided in the manner shown and described, it is manifest that the gate 4 is subject to control by hand- 'wheel In, so that asthe hand-wheel is turned to swing the gate.

As clearly shown in the drawings, the mounting of the gate, and of the hand-wheel, the

hand-wheel itself, and all the power-transmitting parts are external to the hopper and are situated and in their entirety contained in the space between the hopper ,l andthesupporting shell 3." The shell is'provided'with a window 13, through which access is had to the handwheel. By virtue of the arrangement of the gate and its operating apparatus wholly externally of the hopper I and wholly within the compass of casing 3, this apparatus is at once wholly removed from any position of obstruction, so far as concerns the handling of the bucket and its load, and wholly shielded from accidental collision with adjacent objects as the bucket is lifted (ordinarily by a crane) and carried from place to place. And the opening and closing apparatus not only are protected; but, within the cylindrical shell, they do not add to the dimensions of the structure, but permit of movement within minimum space.

Turning to Figs. IV-VI of the drawings, the same organization of easing 3, hopper l, and closure 4, with its end plates will be recognized; and to like ends the plates 5 carry the toothed arcs II. In this case a shaft l4, bearing the pinions l2, extends diametrically across the hopper and through the hopper walls, and upon it the hand-wheel It] also is immediately mounted. As indicated in Fig. VI the handwheel may be duplicated at the two ends of the shaft l4. Within the hopper the through-extending shaft is protected within an enveloping sleeve l5.

As in the form shown in Figs. I-III, the handwheel and the intergeared parts are all within the protection of the casing 3. The hand-wheels are accessible through windows I 3. In case a hand-wheel at one end of shaft l4 suffices, the window in the opposite wall of casing 3 may be reduced to a size sufficient only to afford access for purposes of replacement'and repair. The sleeve l5 extending across the breadth of the hopper is inconsiderable as an obstruction to loading and unloading, and the consequent simplicity and ruggedness of the closure-operating means is a characteristic of great value.

The structure in its variety of specific forms has been developed as a concrete bucket; manifestly'it is adapted, without any change whatever, to receive ,and carry and deliver any material susceptible to like handling.

I claim as my invention:

,1. ,A bottom-dump bucket for concrete and like material including a hopper with walls converging downwardly to a discharge opening, a closure for such discharge opening in the form of an incomplete cylindrical shell mounted exteriorly of said hopper for axial rotation, the heads of the cylindrical shell being provided marginally with gear-teeth, a shaft rotatable on an axis of fixed spatial relationship to the hopper equipped with pinions in mesh with the geartoothed margins of the heads of the cylindrical closure, and means for rotating said shaft.

2. A bottom-dump bucket for concrete and like material including a hopper with walls convergingdownwardly to a discharge opening, a

. 3. Abottom-dump bucket for concrete and like material including a casing, a hopper with walls converging downwardly to a discharge opening mounted within the casing, a closure for such discharge opening rotatably mounted on said hopper, a shaft equipped with a crank, the said crank being in the assembly arranged exteriorly of said hopper and within the protection of said casing, and means for imparting rotation from said shaft to said closure, the easing being ported to afford access to said crank.

4. In a bottom-dump bucket structure for concrete and like material a body including a casing and a hopper with walls converging downwardly to a discharge opening mounted within the casing, a closure for such discharge opening in the form of an incomplete cylindrical shell mounted in said body and exteriorly of said hopper for axial rotation, the heads of the cylindrical shell being provided marginally with gear-teeth, a shaft mounted upon said body and equipped with pinions in mesh with the gear-toothed margins of the heads of the cylindrical closure, and hand-operated means arranged externally of the hopper and within the protection of said casing adapted to rotate said shaft, the casing being ported to afford access to such shaft-rotating means.

5. In a bottom-dump bucket structure for concrete and like material a body including a casing, a hopper with walls converging downwardly to a discharge opening mounted within the casing, a closure for such discharge opening in the form of an incomplete cylindrical shell mounted on said body exteriorly of said hopper for axial rotation, the heads of the cylindrical shell being provided marginally with gear-teeth, a countershaft mounted upon said body and equipped with pinions in mesh with the gear-toothed margins of the heads of the cylindrical closure, a shaft equipped with a crank rotatably mounted upon said body exteriorly of said hopper, and means for imparting rotation from the crank shaft to the counter-shaft first named, the said closure, the counter-shaft, the crank shaft and the crank being arranged externally of the hopper and within the protection of said casing and the cas- 6. A bottom-dump bucket for concrete and like material including a casing, a hopper with walls converging downwardly to a discharge opening mounted within the casing, a closure for such discharge opening in the form of an incomplete cylindrical shell mounted exteriorly of said hopper for axial rotation, the heads of the cylindrical shell being provided marginally with gearteeth, a shaft extending transversely across the hopper and through the walls thereof equipped with pinions in mesh with the gear-toothed margins of the heads of the cylindrical closure, said shaft being further equipped with a crank arranged exteriorly of the hopper walls and within the protection of the casing, the casing being portedto afl'ord access to said crank.

BERNARD H. KERSTING. 

